Stick a fork in it

Month: November 2007

Grilling pizza seems an odd concept to grasp at first, but once you do it, there’s no going back. Rachel whipped up some lovely pizza. Here are the bits and pieces she laid down.

Pizza One:
Figgy, Cheesy, Hamness
This was the best pizza of the three. Maybe even the best pizza I’ve ever had. I don’t even like figs unless they’ve been Newtoned and still it was yummy. It was more complicated than the other two only in that you had to mix stuff into the Ricotta, no biggie.

Cut the figs in half. Done with figs.Chiffinade the basil ( or “Bah-zil” for the commonwealth ). Itsy bitsy the Garlic. Then, smoosh the Garlic with the basil with a bit of salt. Mix the pasty stuff in with the Ricotta. That’s your sauce. Put that on first and pile the rest on top.

Debitter the eggplant with a little salt, pepper (or “salper” as an old friend used to say) and vinegar. Rachel got a little carried away with the quick pour vinegar and still it was lovely. Grill ‘em up and set aside. When you’re ready to top, pesto first, veg then cheese. The grilled veggies were AMAZING. I thought it would take awhile to get soft and flavored, but oh no, it was quick. I love heat.

Pizza on the grill, that’s right. You’ve heard it at parties. It sounds fancy. It sounds fun. More importantly, it’s EASY. Amaze and dazzle your friends and give them an anecdote for the water cooler (or dentist or proctologist whatever). Rachel did it. She bought a pile of stuff that sounds good, a wad of pre-made dough and let impulsive, gut driven mastication take over.

Shopping List:
Pre-made pizza dough
Something saucy
Something melty
Bits and Pieces … go with it, you know what to do and if you don’t

Dough:
The quick and easy way to do pizza is to lean on your local yuppie marts, your Trader Joes, your Metropolitan WankMarts … whatever, they’re out there even in Kansas (I love you Kansas, don’t get me wrong). There you will find pre-made pizza dough. It’s like under two bucks. You can let the dough get to room temperature and massage it with a little flour as to avoid a sticky ball. Trader Joe’s dough tends to be sticky. Rachel brought frozen dough, but with a little microwavic coercion, it was cold but malleable and still got its pizza on. Rachel picked up dough from Delaurnti. This is an Italian yum yum wet dream. They have everything you’d ever need; even cute, little jars of Nutella. Located in Seattle where they throw the fish.

Grilling Pizza:
First, fluff your grill. Get it nice and hot.

Roll out or toss the dough. Rachel was a roller, she tried tossing dough, but giggled uncontrollably.

Have your pizza toppings, sauce and the rest ready and near. Then …

(Rachel runs to get the toppings. Silly Rachel)

Place the dough on the grill and cover. Don’t walk away, this bit is quick. After a quick conversation about how you really need to get that new Britney album because sure she’s having some moments, but she still has amazing producers, give it a peak. At brown and an apparent crispness, give it a flip.

Dress your pizza. Cover and wait for the melting to happen.

That’s it. Ah yeah, that’s it. Serious.

Playing with coals:
Rachel played around with direct and indirect heat.

1. Charcoal in a nice pile in the middle for both sides.
Result: a bit burnt on the second side
2. Charcoal in the middle for the first side. Then scooting the charcoal to the side for the second side.
Result: yummy crunch, dare I say perfect?
3. Indirect heat for both sides. That is, charcoal scooted to one part of the grill for both pizza sides.
Result: okay, but took longer. With our girl Rachel, this was a bad technique as she kept opening the lid to check if it’s done yet. Is it done yet? How about now? With her lovely Oxford accent and snapping tongs. Oh yes, smart and sassy this one is.

Three pizzas were made and three pizzas were eaten lickety split. There is no going back. The fling of pizza and the hot grill is the kind of magic only elves are capable of.

A quick scrub of the grill. It was a happy August barbecue when last this beast was used, so it needed a little clean. This girl hadn’t scrubbed before, but with a little pep talk, manage to persevere.

We had this puppy prepped, hot and cooking within an hour. Chop some parsley, light the chimney, have some champagne, make some burgers and it’s grill time. Once the little burgers achieve shrinkage and get all brown and firm, you can eat them many ways.

Tamra popped them in a warmed mini pita with some red leaf lettuce and chevre. Or some prefer to say it with ketchup. The parsley, onion, egg thing unites the ground lamb to take on any vehicle.

The pears were even easier. Of the three we tried, the whole pear was by far the best. Sweet, juicy with texture like buttah. Nothing says fall like snuggling in to a warm pear after your friend made you barbeque in sub fifty Fahrenheit.

This grilled pear thing was a total first kiss. It’s fall, there were pears and we went with it. Taking three sacrificial pears, we messed around to determine what seemed tastiest.
Pears
Balsamic vinegar
Walnuts

Model A
The halved pear. Leave the skin on.

Model B
The shaved pear. Whole pear, no skin

Model C
The pear. Skin and all its pearness.

Directions:
Put pear on grill. Take it off when it’s dark, handsome and looks less firm. A little poke might help determine readiness.

Only you can decide how you like it. For this girl on the grill, the whole pear triumphed hands down. It was warm, juicy and sweet. Yum.

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Presentation and Eatery:
Once cooked, cut the pear in half and place on a plate. Spew balsamic vinegar around the edge of the plate for the eater to drag a bit of pear through (it’s funner that way). Make it perty with some walnuts. Grab your champagne and sit back to take all the compliments.

It’s on:
1. Throw down the ground lamb and get dirty.
2. Make a cute little volcano to dazzle your friends.
3. Put the egg in the hole. Ta da!
(good time to ask friend for a sip of champagne)
4. Squidge the volcano, continue to massage until everything is well mingled.
5. Sprinkle parsley on top. Work it.
6. Set in the onion play some more.
7. Make small patties and place on a plate ready for the grill.
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Once cooked, the vehicle for eating these babies are limitless. We popped the bugerettes in a mini, whole wheat pita with a dab of chevre and some red leaf lettuce. Though a high risk for being sassed, a few drops of ketchup is also yummy.